Spokesman of the National Health Organization and Professor for Infectious Diseases, Sotiris Tsiodras, came under fire on Sunday for chanting in a church during the mass that was supposed to be held behind closed doors except for the clergy and the helpers.
As if this was not enough to trigger strong reactions against the country’s top epidemiologist, television reporters streamed live from the church and showed people crowding at the entrance, waiting to get inside.
Divine services should take place behind closed doors to prevent the spread of coronavirus especially to the elderly and the vulnerable, the government decided last Monday (March 16).
The practicing Greek Orthodox Tsiodras chants every Sunday at a church in Kifissia suburb of northern Athens, but on this Sunday he “helped” in a worship place in Spata village in eastern Attica, media report.
A day earlier, he almost broke down during the daily briefing a day earlier when he appealed to Greeks to stay home in order to protect “our mothers and fathers, our grandparents” from the coronavirus so that “we will be with them also next year.”
Tsiodras in the church triggered an outrage but also divided the Greek society with some supporting him saying he was functioning as a chanter already before the coronavirus outbreak.
Majority of Greeks, however, lambasted him saying that he should be a leading example of what is he is “preaching.”
“Very bad moment for Mr. Tsiodras. I except his apology in the afternoon [daily briefing].”
Πολύ κακη στιγμή για τον κ. Τσιόδρα.
Περιμένω το απόγευμα να απολογηθεί για αυτό που προκάλεσε.#Τσιοδρας pic.twitter.com/8WOeU4fELi— Παρα-καντιανός (@Jimmy_Korgialas) March 22, 2020
“It is OK if Tsiodras want to chant in the church but why with cameras and reporters? What’s the message elderly get when watching this on TV? Is it excluded that they will think if he goes to church we can go too?”
Ο Τσιόρδας ήθελε να πάει να ψάλλει στην εκκλησία. Οκ μέχρι εδώ. Γιατί έπρεπε να γίνει με κάμερες και δημοσιότητα αυτό; Δηλαδή οι ηλικιωμένοι που το βλέπουν στην tv τι μήνυμα παίρνουν απ' αυτό; Αποκλείεται να σκεφτούν αφού πάει αυτός εκκλησία ας πάμε κι εμείς;
— adiasistos (@adiasistos) March 22, 2020
“majority of friends say they desperately try to keep elderly inside as they don’t understand they shouldn’t go outside or to chuch. Today all these say “here! the doctor goes to church too.”
Έχω μιλήσει με δεκάδες φίλους αυτές τις μέρες οι περισσότεροι προσπαθούν να κρατήσουν με νύχια και με δόντια ηλικιωμένους που δεν καταλαβαίνουν ότι δεν πρέπει να μη βγαίνουν έξω και να μην πηγαίνουν εκκλησία. Σήμερα όλοι αυτοί λένε "να, πηγαίνει και ο γιατρός".
— Miltos (@miltostr) March 22, 2020
Tsiodras claimed that no faithful was in the church – maybe apart from 1-2 “photographers” who shot the two pictures?
To a tweet tagging him with hashtag #We-Chant-at-Home, Tsiodras responded that there was one person [him] in 1000 square meters and thus with special and accused the critic of “racism.”
Με ειδική άδεια κι 1 άτομο σε 1000 τετ μέτρα – αυτός είναι ο ρατσισμός για τον οποίο μιλάω κι εσείς αγαπητέ φίλε δεν καταλαβαίνετε
— Sotirios Tsiodras (@STsiodras) March 22, 2020
Majority of tweeter users reminded him that he does not send the right message to the society and some also criticized him for the “special permission” saying he wouldn’t have obtained one if his name was not Tsiodras.
οι προσωπικές σας πεποιθήσεις είναι σεβαστές αλλά δε στέλνετε το σωστό μήνυμα προς τη κοινωνία,καλημέρα σας
— Sofia Lampiki (@SofiaLampiki) March 22, 2020
Some wrote that they expected him to resign and others simply noted they wanted also a “special permission” to go to the beach.
PS The question is: why the Epidemiology professor needed the media promotion of his church going and chanting?
